


Adaptibility

by Phosphenes_Ronin



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Feels, Ficlet, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Non-Canonical Character Death, Not Canon Compliant, Post-Season/Series 04, Sad Ending, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-06 07:01:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13405926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phosphenes_Ronin/pseuds/Phosphenes_Ronin
Summary: Humans are adaptable creatures, a fact Pidge knew well.She also knew they couldn't magically survive a wound like this. They weren't that adaptable.





	Adaptibility

**Author's Note:**

> Written by Ronin because Pidge is Phosphenes' favorite character, and we all love to suffer. Love you <3

It was never supposed to end this way.

Hell, it was never even supposed to  _ start  _ this way.

The search for her family was never supposed to reach past the Garrison. Past the world she already knew. It was supposed to be something she did alone - behind closed doors in dark rooms with just the light from her laptop screen to guide her.

(That had never bothered her. She would make her own path. Find her own way.

She had yet to give up on anything, and she wasn’t going to start now, not with her family on the line.)

It was never supposed to spread into the stars, far beyond any semblance of normality.

But then her father and brother had disappeared out there, beyond the realm that she knew, and she had no choice but to follow. 

She had just never imagined it would go like...like  _ this.  _ She never pictured robotic lions or an intergalactic war. She had never imagined alien tyrants or that she would be battling on the front to save the universe.

That had all been fine, though. She was capable, adaptable. She had transitioned from being the annoying, loudmouth, know-it-all girl in her local school to being a quiet, average-intelligence boy at the Garrison. She had moved from being a normal human teenager to being one of the five warriors entrusted with the fate of the entire universe. 

She was clever. She was methodical. She could  _ adapt. _

But there were some things…

_ “Oh my God...Pidge…” _

_ “Pidge? Are you still there? Hold on, okay. Please, just hold on!” _

_ “We’re coming. Do you hear that? We’re coming!” _

...that one simply couldn’t adapt to.

She knew that. Humans weren’t invulnerable in any sense of the word. They simply hadn’t been built to be invincible. Change they could handle, but it wasn’t an instantaneous thing.

_ “KATIE!” _ _   
_

They certainly couldn’t adapt to a Galra blaster shot dead-on.   
Her armor had been hit enough to be compromised relatively early on in the mission, but she had been too engaged to pull back. She had seen the Galra, but moments too late. She had been so focused on the other two soldiers that she had completely forgotten about him.

Those were the facts. Those were the facts that defined why she was currently lying on the ground, her armor cracked and her stomach bleeding. 

Those were the facts that would be told whenever someone asked how the Green Paladin had died.

Her teammates calls and cries filled her radio, fluttering in and out of her awareness like the click of keys on a keyboard. She wished to reply with what consciousness she was still clinging onto, but her mind was moving sluggishly, and the moment she opened her mouth, she coughed up blood.

Her analytical mind detachedly told her that that wasn’t good.

It could be worse, she knew. She wouldn’t be leaving Voltron at a disadvantage. She had found Matt. He could take over for her as the team’s resident hacker and Green Paladin. He was more than capable. He was smarter than her, and a better fighter as well. He would treat Green well, she knew, and the Lion would like him. She could sense it.

She let her eyes slide shut, not wanting her last sight to be of the cold Galran base covered in her blood.

Her only regret was that she hadn’t been able to find her father as well, but she was suddenly not worried by that any longer. Matt would pick up the search where she was leaving it off, and he would have all of the Voltron Coalition behind him. He could do it. She knew he could.

She could feel the vibrations of footsteps her ears were too tired to process and knew her team had found her. They were there. The gentle but firm hand on her shoulder was Lance’s. The panicked voice that sounded like she was hearing it through water could only be her brother’s.

They were there. She wasn’t alone.

Her search was over, but at least she had ended it surrounded by those she loved.

She drew one last firm breath, before slowly, as if hesitant to fully give in, letting it go.

It wasn’t supposed to end this way, she knew, but she accepted it. She understood that it could not be changed. That not all things were as adaptable as she had been in her lifetime.

And, with that breath, her lungs refused to draw another. She slipped away smoothly, a small smile on her face.

That was the first and last time the clever and persistent Green Paladin ever gave up.


End file.
